The present invention relates to collaborative information systems.
Users watching video content on a television are not always available when a particular show is broadcast. In order to permit watching a video at a later time or otherwise the video, personal video recorders have been developed which permit the user to record the video content on a storage device and play it at a later more convenient time. Existing personal video recorders include the capability of creating and updating a user profile of the user's viewing habits. Based upon this user-profile, the system may filter potential content and provide the user with recommendations. Accordingly, for a particular television set and an associated personal video recorder in a user's home, the personal video recorder may create a user profile which is used to recommend potential video content to the user.
Some existing Internet based shopping based websites, particularly those related to selling books, track in some manner the previous selections of different users. The website may track a trend such as the users tendency to purchase a particular first book together with a particular second book. The data collected may then be used to provide recommendations when another user indicates a preference to purchase either the first or second book by presenting the other book as being of possible interest. While the information may be of possible use, there is no indication of the source of the data or otherwise how such a recommendation was made, or the identification and background of those other users. In many cases, the recommended book may be of little to no interest to the particular user.
The foregoing and other objectives, features, and advantages of the invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.